Nagant strength question.

S

samsmix

New member
I know some people do it, but what is the ruling on shooting .32 H&R Mag out of a Nagant revolver? Please stay on topic: I am not asking about .32acp, .32-20, or .32 S&W..... JUST .32 H&R mag.

I want to know who has actually done this, and how it went. If it went poorly, I want to know how so.
 
found this article:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_161_27/ai_95120541/

Might be biased, but it's worth a read and also interesting. Note the paragraphs below the 'Russian dating site' ad regarding the Nagants unique design... 'in a nifty mechanical arrangement where the cylinder is cammed forward upon cocking '. Not sure if yours if the same 1895 design that does this, but it's something to think about. Basically, if the weapon is forcing higher pressures by design... def. check the pressures of the rounds you want to fire against the pressures of those you know will fire safely.

Wikipedia says (for what it's worth):

Three other cartridges—.32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum—will also generally chamber and fire in the revolver, but will not achieve the gas seal.

On the other hand:

http://www.gunandgame.com/forums/powder-keg/44998-alternate-cartridges-nagant-revolver.html

says that it will work 'perfectly well'.

Personally, I wouldn't trust the fact that 100 rounds of higher pressure rounds work in a revolver. It's round 101 that blows the backstrap into your own personal headspace that matters.

If you do choose the bullets talked about in that gng article, note the warning about lead fouling if you use non-jacketed rounds.

You could get a 'perfect storm' of firing rounds that don't make a seal and therefore don't reach full pressure.... but leave metal behind until the point where the next round does seal and then goes critically over pressure. Theoretically that could happen in one shooting session... but this all just speculation.
 
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You can buy Nagant ammo for $4 a pack of 14 on aimsurplus or $20 for 50. It's a werid round/bottlenecked thingy I wouldn't use 32 mag IMO.
 
.32 magnum ammo has a smaller diameter than 7.62x38r and higher pressure. For these reasons I would not use it. I rechambered my Nagant for
.32-20 ammo. The ammunition has to be loaded 1/10" shorter to clear the back of the barrel. After rechambering, the original Nagant ammo can still be fired in it. I use a 93 gr Lee rn cast bullet sized to .313" and 4.2 gr Unique. 2-1/2" accuracy at 25 yards off the sandbags. No sign of pressure or hard extraction. I own the reamer.

A friend in NY was in the Ordnance Corp in WW2 and swears they converted a Nagant 1895 revolver to fire .30 Carbine. I was not there and did not see it and it might be an old man's yarn but I think it is an interesting concept.

Doug
 

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Even if I was able to shoehorn a 30 carbine into one with some creative machining, I'd never pull the trigger on it. These are rock solid revolvers but I wouldn't want to test just how solid. I've read stories of people machining them so 7.62 tok would fit. Same story included a trip to the hospital from cylinder shrapnel.
 
Nagant ammo is also available on gunbroker.com and even sportsmansguide.com in bulk for pretty affordable prices.
Compared to the 32 magnum it's easily less $$ per round and since you can buy it in bulk you can get plenty to play with at the range.

Did you know the barrel can be threaded for a silencer? Because the cylinder slides up to form a solid gas seal, it also eliminates the issue with a cylinder gap and silencers work quite well on them. The cylinder gap in standard revolvers is what keeps them from being able to be silenced.

Have fun, and be safe.

Regards,
Gearchecker
 
FWIW, I bought one of those .32 ACP cylinders and reamed it to .32 H&R Magnum. It works fine now with .32 ACP, .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, and .32 H&R Magnum. I am not going to try it with .327 Federal, which is a lot hotter round than any of the above.

Jim
 
You can buy Nagant ammo for $4 a pack of 14 on aimsurplus or $20 for 50. It's a werid round/bottlenecked thingy
Click to expand...

This currently available surplus ammo doesn't have the strange bottleneck thingy you mentioned. If it's the flair on the end that seals the round against the barrel that you are talking about.

Currently available Russian Surplus
A76238RFMJ3.jpg


Original style ammo with flared end to seal against the barrel as the cylinder moves forward.
300px-76238comparison.jpg


I have shot both 32 Long, and 32 H&R Magnum without any problems other than an occasional split case. Not from pressure being too high, but from the case being a bit smaller in diameter. Now that 7.62X38R is available at a more reasonable price that is what I shoot in my 1895 Nagant.
 
I know Nagant revolver brass can be made from .223 sized with a .30 Carbine die. (it's a little more involved than that.) I wonder if an empty .30 Carbine case would fit... It might be possible to use .30 Carbine brass with wadcutter bullets and headspace off the bullet nose... (I don't think it will work because the N-revolver doesn't have normal cylinder throats.)

It's worth exploring because that would save a whole lot of work. Or maybe that's just the beer-and-a-shot talking. ;)
 
The pressure spec for the Nagant is 11000psi.

The pressure spec for the .32H&$ Magnum is 21000CUP. There's not a direct correlation between psi and cup but it's safe to say that 21000CUP is MUCH higher than 11000psi.

In addition, bullet diameter for the .32 H&R Magnum is .312" as opposed to .308" for the Nagant ammunition.

The combination of much higher pressure and a larger bullet diameter, is more than sufficient justification for stating that shooting .32H&R Magnum in a Nagant revolver is not a recommended practice.
 
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